Interactivity a new hallmark of the Baseball Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — For years, a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum offered a celebration of small-town America and a leisurely tour through baseball’s past untouched by time or technology.

That has changed. Having revamped its exhibit space over the past five years, the Hall of Fame is committed to technology, interactivity and portability – to sharing its treasures with fans before they walk in the door and to remain with them once they leave.

“There used to be a line in our press kit about the Hall of Fame being a place where you can come and disconnect and not have to face the outside world,” said Brad Horn, the former Houstonian who is the Hall of Fame’s senior director of communications and education. “Now, everybody has an iPad or a phone, and they expect enhanced content.

“There is a vast majority of people who walk in the door who are entirely content to look at a traditional way of presentation, but there is a vast host of people who expect more dialogue.”

The heart and soul of the Hall of Fame remains the Plaque Gallery, with its cathedral ceiling and light streaming through elevated windows on the two rows of nearly 300 bronze plaques honoring greats of the game. Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven and Pat Gillick will be added to the gallery with Sunday’s induction ceremonies.

The museum’s future, however, is reflected in its newest exhibit, One for the Books: Baseball Records and the Stories Behind Them.

Horn’s favorite window in One for the Books, which opened in June with about 270 items associated with assorted records, pairs the uniform of 6-11 John Rauch of the Twins with that of 3-7 Eddie Gaedel, Bill Veeck’s 1951 pinch hitter with the St. Louis Browns.

Other highlights include Barry Bonds’ asterisk-affixed 756th home run ball, Yogi Berra’s mitt from Don Larsen’s 1956 perfect game, first base from Armando Galarraga’s perfect game that wasn’t, Joe DiMaggio’s locker from 1941, when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games, and spikes side by side worn by hit kings Ty Cobb and Pete Rose.

Houston-related elements include the Astros uniform worn by Ivan Rodriguez when he set the record for games by a catcher; Nolan Ryan’s cap from the game in which he broke Walter Johnson’s strikeout record; Kerry Wood’s cap from his 20-strikeout game against the Astros; and a cap from Ken Johnson’s lost no-hitter with the Colt .45s in 1964.

Quenching fans’ thirst

At center stage, though, is something new for the Hall of Fame: a computer terminal where visitors can access the career, single-season and active leaders in any major statistical category for any season in baseball’s modern history.

Fueled by data from the website Baseball-Reference.com, the tower represents what the Hall of Fame hopes to become in the digital age.

“Interactivity is big, and it’s a continued focus,” Horn said. “We are going to digitize much of the collection so we can take these three-dimensional treasures outside of our walls and into homes over the Internet and mobile devices. It won’t be the same as being here, but we have to quench that thirst for people to see what we have here.”

One for the Books was the final piece in a long-term revamping of the exhibit space on the second and third floors of the museum.

The main timeline exhibit on the second floor features a locker for each team. The Astros locker includes the bat with which Jeff Bagwell hit his 400th career homer, Chris Burke’s jersey from the 2005 Division Series against the Braves; and Craig Biggio’s cap and bat from the game in which he reached the 3,000-hit milestone.

Viva Baseball, one of the newer exhibits that focuses on Hispanic ballplayers, includes video interviews with Tony Perez, Rod Carew, Orlando Cepeda and others. Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, includes a video interview with Aaron, and the stadium exhibit Sacred Ground includes panoramic videos of the late Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn, Comiskey Park in Chicago and South End Stadium in Boston.

A storage sight to behold

Scribes and Mikemen, which honors winners of the Ford Frick Award for broadcasters and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for writers, features a rotating recording of perhaps two dozen radio highlights, including Milo Hamilton’s call of Astros pitcher Mike Scott’s 1986 playoff-clinching no-hitter, but no video highlights.

In all, perhaps only 10 percent of the museum’s holdings are on display.

The bulk is in a series of subterranean storage rooms that offer a surprise around every corner.

Mary Bellew, the museum’s assistant registrar, was conducting a tour of one storage room when she passed a trombone case, which would seem an odd element for a baseball Hall of Fame until she noted that it came from the film The Natural.

On this particular day, a collection of Houston-related items are spread across the table – a base from the first game at Enron Field, a 1930s bat and uniform from Eddie Hock of the Buffs and a watch presented in 1896 to Jimmy Slagle as Houston’s most popular baseball player.

Also out for inspection were a ball signed by the Mercury and Gemini astronauts, a ball signed by Astros pitcher Turk Farrell from the first game at the Astrodome in 1965, two circuit boards from the Astrodome scoreboard and a mug featuring Astrodillo (a 1960s/70s-era mascot about which Bellew would like more information).

Despite the wealth of material, Horn is always on the lookout for new items.

“On nights when somebody takes a no-hitter into the eighth inning, I will text the clubhouse manager or the team public relations person to make sure that they save a game ball or a cap or a hat for us,” he said. “We try to build relationships and let people know that there is one place where these things belong, and it’s the Hall of Fame.”

Horn is able to endure the lack of daily access to Shiner and Blue Bell for the pleasure of working in Cooperstown.

“I could do nothing but spend time in the museum and be gratified with encountering the people who visit the Hall of Fame,” he said. “It’s the best possible job.”